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CDC Layoffs Affect Hundreds, Including Violence Prevention Staff
Hundreds of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employees are losing their jobs following a court decision that shielded some employees from layoffs but left others vulnerable. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), representing over 2,000 CDC members, reports at least 600 termination notices went out this week, though many employees haven’t received them yet.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offered no new details on the layoffs, pointing to a March statement that cited restructuring and downsizing for greater agency responsiveness and efficiency. The AFGE, however, criticized the “staggering lack of transparency” from HHS, stating they haven’t received formal layoff notices.
The cuts include roughly 100 employees in violence prevention, a move raising concerns, particularly as it comes shortly after a shooting incident on the CDC campus that left a police officer dead. Affected employees expressed their dismay in a recent blog post, highlighting the irony of losing experts trained to prevent the very kind of violence that occurred.
These layoffs stem from an April 1st HHS initiative to downsize federal health agencies. While a federal judge in Rhode Island recently protected some CDC employees, including those in smoking, reproductive health, and environmental health, others were left unprotected, leading to the current terminations, effective as of Monday.
Among the affected projects is work focused on preventing rape, child abuse, and teen dating violence, including international collaborations on tracking violence against children. Tom Simon, retired senior director for scientific programs at the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention, lamented the loss of “nationally and internationally recognized experts that will be impossible to replace.”